Tanzania

report 2014

Poverty reduction initiatives continue questionable

Tanzania is endowed with abundant natural resources but lacks mechanisms for utilizing them effectively for micro and macro development. Invitation to foreign and local companies to invest in key economic sectors is yet to yield expected results. For instance, incentives and tax evasions are so high. The government is therefore urged to diversify the economy and find more viable and alternative sources of revenues for economic development.

The participants in the civil society strategy meeting on monitoring and accountability organized by Social Watch last february in Montevideo were asked about how they personally work and relate with the huge task of making the powerful accountable. Here is what they said:

Tanzania is endowed with abundant natural resources but lacks mechanisms for utilizing them effectively for micro and macro development. Invitation to foreign and local companies to invest in key economic sectors is yet to yield expected results. For instance, incentives and tax evasions are so high. The government is therefore urged to diversify the economy and find more viable and alternative sources of revenues for economic development.

The Southern African Human Rights NGO Network (SAHRINGON) Tanzania Chapter, national focal point of Social Watch, has urged the government to amend or repeal all discriminatory laws based on gender for the country to achieve the equality between men and women provided by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), reported Tanzanian newspaper The Guardian.

Tanzanian civil society organizations are unhappy with the government’s failure to ratify some international agreements that should guarantee the promotion of people’s development, said Armando Swanya, from the Southern African Human Rights NGO Network (SAHRiNGON), focal point of Social Watch in that country.

Swenya cited the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1976, which the government of Tanzania had not ratified yet. This and other international agreements are important in pushing ahead efforts to fight against poverty, he said.

Tanzanian government should give the people more time for the current constitutional review process, warned the Southern African Human Rights NGO Network (SAHRINGON) national branch, also focal point of Social Watch in this country. The police fired tear gas last week near the Parliament venue, when students tried to participate in a public hearing.

Two of Social Watch's focal points in Africa: SODNET, from Kenya and Sahringon from Tanzania have come together to share techology tools to monitor elections in Tanzania that took place 31st October 2010. SODNET's experience in monitoring the kenyan referendum on August 4, 2010 with notable results was key to develop the software platform named UCHAGUZI TZ.

On December 12 Tanzania Social Watch Coalition held a Press conference to launching of the 2007 Social Watch Report. The Conference was attended by different stakeholders who discussed the report in detail and promised to use the same as an advocacy tool on Social Security Issues. The event was covered by different print and electronic media.